Rush Rally 2Rush Rally 2 is an upcoming racing game for not only Android, but iOS and Apple TV too – and it boasts some impressive features. First of all, the developers claim that the game will run at 60 frames per second and will feature over 72 tracks across a number of game modes including Rally cross and Rally Championship. There are eight cars available at launch with a plan to add more over time, all featuring realistic physics gathered from “real car telemetry data”. The iOS/Apple TV variants even feature MFi controller support, allowing you to use a gaming controller to play.

The good news is that the developers claim the game is completed, and it’s just a matter of deciding on a launch date. The developers hope that’ll be some time in May, but nothing is confirmed just yet.

HackersHackers, as you’ve probably guessed already, is a game about hacking – don’t worry, you won’t get into trouble with the NSA for this kind of hacking, though. The idea is that you build up your hacking network and then hack your friends and other online players. Though details about gameplay are scarce, the idea is that you have a network, and you have to build up your defences and resources in such a way that you make the core of your network impenetrable to hackers. The game is currently in beta testing, which you can sign up for at tinyurl.com/h85vaac, with a plan to release for Android in the coming months.

The Elder Scrolls: LegendsThe Elder Scrolls: Legends was first announced at E3 2015, and while there still isn’t a solid release date in sight, it looks promising. It’s a collectable card game, with gamers collecting cards with stats including agility and strength to be used in battles, although there isn’t much else to go on as Bethesda is being tight?lipped about the whole situation.

Bethesda has recently announced a beta test which should be starting soon, and those interested can sign up at tinyurl.com/hcynze8. The game is set to be available for both PC and Mobile and while we assume this means both iOS and Android, there is no platform confirmation so far. The release date is still unknown, but with E3 2016 fast approaching, we imagine it’ll get some kind of mention then.

Leap of FateLeap of Fate is an interesting game already available for PC, but is due to be released on mobile ‘soon’. The game is best known for being hardcore. It may have something to do with the fact that you have one life to survive a journey across a futuristic, slightly cyberpunk looking New York. There’s no health regeneration either, so you’ll probably die quickly and have to start all over again. You can play as one of four characters, all technomages (using science to create the illusion of magic), and there are over one hundred upgrades available over four categories: Mobility, Passive, Attack Skills and Equippable Glyphs. You can find out more about Leap of Fate on its official website at tinyurl.com/j8ghja4. There’s no word on the release date for the mobile companion just yet, but we’ll update this when we know more.

Samurai RisingSquare Enix recently posted a teaser for something called Project: Rising with promises that we’d hear more soon. Well, it turns out that the “more” it was referring to was yet another trailer, although this one included a few more details – the only issue is that it’s in Japanese. A Japanese?speaking writer over at Touch Arcade translated the trailer, and gave us the following insight: “…it’s another free to play social action RPG from the same artist responsible for Bravely Default. The game centralizes around four player co?op, with players taking the role of various Final Fantasy?ish classes.” The video specifically mentions the Dragoon, White Mage and Black Mage classes, so it’s safe to assume that other Final Fantasy?esque jobs will make an appearance in the full game. Samurai Rising looks to be a Japan exclusive game at launch, but we’re holding our breath that it’ll come to UK shores sooner rather than later.

Joust is a game where knights ride on top of gigantic birds and kill each other in gladiatorial combat. Everybody is equipped with a lance, which sticks out a few pixels from their head. The goal is to collide with other jousters, ensuring that your lance is above theirs, which will then kill them.

Bouncing on their heads, of course, will work just as well. It's a different formula from many arcade games from the era like Pac-Man, which typically put the player in weakened state. In Joust, most everyone is on the same playing level.

That’s the theory theory, anyway. The key to Joust is learning how to keep your bird under control. There is only a single button – "flap" – which will propel your bird every so slightly into the air. With a few more presses, you take your steed higher into the sky, allowing you to stay airborne. In addition to fighting against gravity, you're also dealing with inertia. Build up enough speed and you'll find yourself careening across the arena, wrapping around the screen as you disappear off one side and reappear on the other. It’s a surefire way to make yourself dizzy until you skid to a stop.

Though this looks fun, it's also incredibly dangerous. Your enemies have one major advantage over you, and that's the fact that they have extremely solid control over their birds. The most nerve-wracking moments are those brief, split seconds where your brain tries to determine if you’re traveling at the right velocity and angle to hit someone above their lance. Do you let your fate fall into the hands of physics? Do you press the "flap" button one more time, potentially giving you the upper hand, but also maybe propelling you over and missing your target? Or worse, bumping your head on a platform, sending you downward and getting killed. Situations like this happen all the time in Joust, and they’re largely why it's so enthralling.

There are other minor elements, too. Destroyed enemies drops eggs, which you're supposed to collect for points. Left unchecked, they'll hatch into humans, which then call a new bird on the field to take its place, providing another task for you to juggle. Later stages introduce pterodactyls, which are invincible except for an incredibly tiny weak point that was only left into the game due to programmer error, and can only be exploited by truly expert players. There are also fire trolls, who grab any birds that fly too close to the lava and drag them to their death, providing they can't escape. Most amusingly, they don't distinguish between human and CPU controlled characters, and watching a hapless foe get crushed by one of its own is always good for a laugh. -Kurt Kalata

There's really no doubt about it – Nintendo's Balloon Fight is a huge rip-off of Joust. It plays almost identically, except you control a kid flying with balloons, fighting against assorted enemies. Other than the stage designs, the only other major difference is that since you have two balloons, you can take two hits. It is, at least, a very good clone, and much better than the NES port of Joust.

The major advancement comes with the Balloon Trip mode, which recasts the game as an auto-scrolling platformer, as you weave between obstacles and dodge enemies. This spawned its own separate game, known as Balloon Kid for the Game Boy, and Hello Kitty World for the Famicom, which is the same game but starring the cutesy Sanrio mascot. -KK

MachineGames has demonstrated a commendable aptitude for virtual violence. It knows what the gaming populous wants, and it wants to kill Nazis. It wants to decapitate them and it wants to decimate them – that much is clear, the response to it has been palpable. And so the studio has delivered, in Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, a blistering, bloody, and frequently brutal first person shooter that is gleeful and grotesque in equal measure.

In the three years since Wolfenstein: The New Order first shocked us into submission, MachineGames has been patiently improving upon its core proficiencies. The engine has been overhauled, with The New Colossus being built upon a modified iteration of id Tech 6 – the engine that powered Doom’s bold return to the fore in 2016. This has ensured that Wolfenstein looks and plays better than it has ever done before; it’s still a hardcore first-person shooter, only now it’s one with a stronger sense of place and purpose.

Returning force of nature BJ Blazkowicz has been transformed into a full first-person model in-game, as opposed to a pair of floating hands with a disembodied voice attached, meaning that the studio can get cute with the gameplay scenarios that it presents. Hell, the opening act is played from the seat of a wheelchair, with BJ dual-wielding his way through hordes of Nazis as he deals with the crippling injuries bestowed upon him in The New Order’s closing moments by the nefarious General Deathshead.

In fact, you can now dual wield-weapons independently; this gives you further precision over your ability to quickly maim anything so much as resembling an enemy, with limbs flying and torsos disintegrating in a way that can only be described as comically homicidal. An entire team has been dedicated to developing and improving upon Wolfenstein’s combat mechanics over the last three years and the results are already clear: The New Colossus is a shooter that simply can’t be ignored, its gunplay meeting phenomenal level design to create a beautiful picture, a shooting gallery you simply must book a ticket to visit later this October.

While the rebooted Doom excelled in similar elements to Wolfenstein, this series still has something it could never claim to have, and that’s a beating heart beneath the chaos. Doom was content to rip its own fromits chest and eviscerate it in front of you – showering in the spectacle of blood with a knowing smile – whereas Wolfenstein still finds the time to build characters with soul, developing quiet moments of considered storytelling around the shrieking sounds of ultra-violence. The New Colossus isn’t just more of the same; it’s building upon something truly special, a shooter that excels in destroying large portions of humanity, while finding a little piece of its own in the process.

We compile 10 of the most popular titles for phones and tablets running Google’s mobile operating system

1. Hill Climb Racing:

Hill Climb Racing may look basic, but what it lacks in eye-popping graphics it makes up for in pure addiction. To start you get a jeep, one level, an accelerator and a brake, but you’ll quickly unlock more cars and levels. Coins – used to upgrade cars and buy new items – are collected by driving over them, reaching checkpoints and performing flips. You’ll find yourself coming back again and again to get further, an upgrade, a new car or level.

2. Temple Run 2:

Temple Run is the cr?me de la cr?me of endless runners and the second version is not only better than the original, but free. Temple Run 2 combines easy controls with a simple objective and a graphically stunning design. You’ll be jumping, dodging and sliding to beat your friends and unlock achievements and new characters. You might not escape with the precious idol, but you’ll definitely have fun trying.

The first Angry Birds to put the evil green pigs in the spotlight is Bad Piggies, and we love it. Getting your pig (or pigs), from A to B might sound simple, but you’ve got do it by building an increasingly complex contraption out of available parts. Various objectives and the desire to win three stars will keep you coming back for more. Probably the most fun is the sandbox levels, which let you build almost anything you want from a vast inventory of parts.

The original Plants vs Zombies was a smash-hit and the sequel is a must-have for any Android gamer. This exceptional tower defence game expands on the original, while taking you in new directions. A level structure takes you through themed worlds, complete with new objectives to complete. As you would expect, there are new plants with which to get to grips and, although inapp purchases make an appearance,you can ignore them.

A classic mobile game available in various editions, Cut the Rope has superb level design and makes great use of a touchscreen. Physics-based gameplay lets you interact with many di fferent objects as you try and try again to win three stars in each level. There’s loads of levels to keep you going – and keep you coming back for more. And let’s not forget how adorable is the main character Om Nom.

If you find Hill Climb Racing too basic, and have a spare gig of storage on your device, check out Real Racing 3. You’ll be blown away by its highly detailed graphics. Real Racing 3 features real cars, tracks and people. Time Shifted Multiplayer lets you compete against friends, even if they’re o ine. A good selection of race types includes cup races, eliminations, endurance challenges and drag races. All this and, amazingly, it’s free to download.

Bringing an innovative concept to puzzle games, Triple Town is a great free download and the kind of game you can pick up at any time. The idea is to build the best city you can, and this is done by combining three items to form a better one. Bushes become trees, trees become huts and so on. Some cute but pesky bears will get in the way of your progress. We’re also big fans of the gorgeous and charming graphics and animations.

This is no ordinary version of Tetris. In Blitz you get just two minutes in which to score as many points as you can. A Frenzy mode adds a fresh element to this classic game. Rather than moving around blocks, you simply tap on the screen where you want them to go. This removes some of the skill, but is in keeping with the game’s fast-paced nature. Although Tetris Blitz tries to tempt you to buy power-ups, you can get high scores without opening your wallet.

Topping the games charts since its release, you’ve probably heard of Candy Crush Saga. It’s a variation on the classic match-three puzzler, whereby gems are swapped with sweets and other tasty treats. The ease with which you can continue your game on multiple devices is a huge plus point. Objectives must be completed before you can progress through the seemingly never-ending supply of levels. In-app purchases are avoidable, but irritating.

This footie game puts you in the boots of a penniless up-and-coming footballer. You have to complete flick-based challenges, such as passing, shooting and timing interceptions. The better you get the more money you earn, allowing you to buy vehicles, clothes, property... and a whole string of girlfriends. The more you train your player the better you get. So while you start your career at Torquay United, you can flick your way to the World Cup.

The BranchFree + IAPsTap the screen to rotate the walkway to collect gems and prevent your character running into blocks thatpush him off screen. It’s one of those annoying but addictive simple games.

Atlantic Fleet?7.60/$9.99Based on the Battle of the Atlantic in WWII, this turn-based tactical game offers serious strategy with excellent AI and stunning graphics. You can play as the British or German Navy.

Final Fantasy Tactics: WotL?10.49/$13.99Square’s tactical RPG spin-off offers sophisticated strategy as you control characters in a grid-based battle arena. While a nice conversion, it lacks the original PSP version’s multiplayer mode.

Galactus SpaceShooter Free + IAPThis old-fashioned shoot-’em-up takes us back a bit and plays well, too, as your auto-firing ship takes on waves of enemies and big bosses. You can play a couple of levels for free.

Roll’dFree + IAPIn this innovative endless runner, you control the track rather than the character running along it, aiming to keep it level. A nice idea, although it soon gets frustrating as the slightest error proves deadly.

A Twitter user compared Taylor's letter to Apple music to a quote from Miley Cyrus saying she doesn't care if she gets paid for her music. Zayn retweeted the message, and many believed he was anti-Taylor.

Justin chose his side in the kanye and Kim versus Taylor feud by posting a screenshot from his face time session with Kanye. The caption read, Taylor Swift what up."

9. Kendall Jenner

When Kim Kardashian leaked audio and video of taylor agreeing to being mentioned in Kanye's song "Famous," Kendall sided with Kim by "liking" many anti Taylor Swift tweets on Twitter,

10. Barack Obama

President Obama poked fun at Taylor Swift by saying, "Republicans fell in love with this thing and now they can't stop talking about how much they hate it. It's like we're trapped in a Taylor Swift album."

11. Drake Bell

When he was asked about Taylor Swift and Harry Styles hooking up again, Drake Bell describes the reconciliation as Taylor "making rounds" as a way to mock her tumultuous love life.

12. Diplo

When Diplo began dating Taylor's frenemy Katy Perry, he came to Katie's defense by making fun of Taylor's butt. Diplo tweeted, "someone should make a Kickstarter to get taylor swift a booty."

13. Pharrell Williams

Taylor Swift was dancing the night away at the billboard music awards, and cameras caught Pharrell Williams giving her the side-eye. Many assumed he definitely wasn't a fan of hers.

14. Kim Kardashian

Kim got so tired of taylor playing the victim, so on national sneak day, she tweeted," they have holidays for everybody, I mean everything these days!" in reference to the singer.

15. Lorde

Lorde called out Taylor and her good girl Act in an interview by saying, "Taylor swift is so flawless, and so unattainable, and I don't think it's breeding anything good in young girls."

16. Demi Lovato

When asked about her feud with Taylor, Demi said "there are women that I don't get along with, and that's fine."

17. Orlando Bloom

Orlando Bloom got so fed up as Taylor's neighbor, he had to move out of his new york apartment. Apparently, paparazzi would swarm their complex to get shots of taylor, and he got fed up.

18. Calvin Harris

Taylor Swift revealed she wrote ex-boyfriend Calvin Harris's song "this is what you came for" after they agreed to keep her involvement a secret. Calvin then tweeted, "I know you're off tour and you need someone new to try and bury like Katy Perry but I'm not that guy, sorry. I won't allow it.

19. Kanye West

Despite all the drama surrounding his song "Famous," Kanye took another dig at Taylor by featuring her naked wax figure lying in bed with him in the song's music video.

20. Katy Perry

Taylor Swift told "Rolling Stone" magazine there's a certain celeb who she thought was her friend, but she wasn't. Katie responded by tweeting, "watch out for the Regina George in sheep's clothing."

“THE PEOPLE HERE SEEM TO KNOW WELL WHO KRATOS REALLY IS, OR AT LEAST THE NORSE GODS DO”

1. THE AXE IS VERSATILEWe already knew from previous showcases that Kratos’ new weapon of choice was far more useful than it might first appear, but its abilities go beyond even just throwing it and having it fly back. Throw it into walls and call it back from behind enemies to catch them out.

2. KRATOS HAS A RETRACTABLE SHIELDThe Greek master of gore has never been much of a defensive fighter, so we weren’t terribly surprised to see that a shield in his hands is more of a weapon than anything else. Kratos uses to beat his enemies into a pulp, chaining it with other blows. Expect parries, too.

3. THERE ARE DEAD GIANTS ABOUTKeep an eye out in the background of some shots and you’ll see dead frost giants, known as J?tunn in Norse mythology, dead and broken on the ground. Gigantic enemies and living landscapes have been a staple of this series, so meeting a live one seems likely.

4. ATREUS HELPS OUT IN BATTLEKratos has a son and while his first reveal painted a picture of a relatively timid young boy, he is at his heart the son of a god of war, so he can throw down as his confidence improves. Look for him to fire shocking arrows and leap on the backs of enemies.

5. HE’S GOOD AT TRANSLATING, TOOAtreus is essential to Kratos navigating this strange land as he’s the only one of the pair who knows how to read and translate Norse languages. You’ll need to lean on his skills if you want to make any sense of thisstrange new realm.

6. SOME OF THE ENVIRONMENT IS DESTRUCTIBLEWe has some hints at this before, but more gameplay has only confirmed our suspicions that large sectionsof the masonry and other structures can be completely demolished through combat. Those trolls can pack a punch, even through stone columns.

7. KRATOS HAS A REPUTATION HEREThe people here seem to know well who Kratos really is, or at least the Norse gods do. Just how much you’ll need to confront the local deities is something we’ll have to wait to find out, but they seem to have taken a keen interest in your journey. As well they should…

8. THE WORLD SERPENT MAY BE YOUR BUDDYWe suspected from the newly designed logo for God Of War that the World Serpent, J?rmungandr, would play a role in this game and it was interesting to see that on first encountering him he is not a boss fight, but a potential ally. What could this son of Loki want with Kratos?

9. THE OLD BLADES WERE TOO EMOTIONALThe development team has addressed the fact that Kratos has left his chained blades behind him, with only the scars on his flesh remaining as a reminder of their role in his life. Apparently they just carry too many bad memories for Kratos, which will be addressed in the game.

10. IT’S ALL DONE IN ‘ONE SHOT’One fun fact that we’re keen to watch out for is that director Cory Barlog wanted to have God Of War be one continuous shot from beginning to end. He even used the hospital shootout in Hard Boiled as an example to his development team. It’s an ambitious idea.

There are few games that truly manage to marry different genres successfully, but when they do the results can be really spectacular. One such game was Destiny, which took the ideals of massively multiplayer online gaming and combined them with action-rich first-person shooter gaming. The end result was a game that, while not everyone’s cup of tea, certainly hit a chord with a large number of players around the globe. So much so, in fact, that we now have a sequel on the way.

The story in Destiny 2 is simple enough – although the Guardians fought valiantly to preserve the last city on Earth, it ultimately fell to an invading force.

Now the Red Legion occupy the city, and the ousted guardians (the players) must find a way to take it back. There isn’t too much known about Destiny 2 just yet, in terms of specifics. But the information that we have managed to glean is that there will be a whole new set of environments to explore, as well as new skills and equipment to discover. There are also some new co-op and competitive modes on the way, but we’re expecting to hear a lot more about this next instalment in the Destiny franchise around E3.

One thing we do know for sure is that both pubishers Activision and developers Bungie are excited about what will be on offer in Destiny 2.

“Destiny established a blockbuster, new franchise and a massive global community of amazingly passionate fans. And today, we are giving people their first look at the gameplay of Destiny 2,” Eric Hirshberg,CEO of Activision, said. “Destiny 2 has a great story, an iconic new villain, awesome characters you want to go on an epic adventure with, and of course, tons of the amazing gameplay that Destiny is known for.

We, along with our partners at Bungie, have listened carefully to our community, and have added thoughtfulinnovations that make the game, and all of its content, more accessible to more types of players than everbefore.”

Bungie shares to sentiment., “This is a defining moment for our studio, and we couldn’t have done it without the continued support of our partners in Activision, Sony and now Blizzard,” Bungie CEO, Pete Parsons, said. “We have an amazing community of players who have been with us on this journey, but with the sequel, the team are paying close attention to welcoming new and returning Guardians to the universe with something for every type of gamer, including gameplay for solo, cooperative and competitive players with new places to explore and adventures to conquer.”

Yes, you read that right… Blizzard. Destiny 2 will be the first ever non-Blizzard game to be offered via Battle.Net, Blizzards online portal and platform. This will, of course, be for the PC version, and will enable players to take advantage of a well-established MMO architecture. Exciting stuff indeed.

How much innovation is enough? We keep asking ourselves this question when it comes to the LEGO series of games, in part because TT Games seems to be working hard to keep its titles feeling different and fresh, and yet each invariably feels more or less just like the last. The difference between enjoying and ignoring a new LEGO title can often come down to whether or not you feel an attachment to the license being satirised and celebrated. LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 2 appears to be going a few extra steps to shake up what has become perceived to be the TT Games formula.

There are two big new additions that should go a long way to shaking up both the world and the gameplay options you have available to you. The first is that villain Kang has arrived from the end of time to seek out and challenge the Avengers and in so doing has brought with him some interesting time-bending mechanics. As you play through missions and challenges you’ll have to contend with and think about how time manipulation could alter the state of the world around you. Is there a pile of parts and rubble for a complex machine in front of you? Maybe it can’t be built like you wouldnormally do, but lure an attack in that area and you might force Kang to turn back time for amoment and reconstitute a starfighter ship or similar mission-critical object.

The other thing that Kang is doing, since he’s a strangely honourable villain and is looking for an open and genuine challenge from the Avengers – not just a fight where he can cheat his way to a win – is he’s brought in versions of Marvel’s greatest heroes from across the multiverse and crashed them together in one massive new venue, Chronopolis. This is a giant city that comprises portions of multiple worlds, from the streets of New York from the universe we know, to the world of Spider-Man2099 and Spider-Man Noir (both of whom appear in the game). We got a glimpse of the scale of this city and it is mightily impressive and packed with content.

The heroes themselves look to be as varied as ever, but also much more nuanced and detailed than the past. Where many heroes might have felt like re-skins of each other, now they have distinct special abilities. Starlord’s ability is a particular highlight, putting on his headphones, causing everyone nearby to start jigging as he shoots and dances around them. TT Games seems to have got the balance right again.

We all like a freebie, but sometimes it’s worth remembering that you get what you pay for

I was recently involved in a Twitter discussion with a couple of tech fans. Twitter User A recommended an Android game. Twitter User B tutted that it “looked expensive”. The game cost ?1.49.

Is it possible that smartphone and tablet users, of whom Twitter User B is a typical example, have developed something of an entitlement problem? It’s hard to think of a time when good-quality software has been more widely available or cheaper, but this has made misers of us all, skinflints who purse our lips when asked to cough up the price of half a pint for an app that took months to create.

The race to the bottomWhen did we get so tight with money? Or, to approach it from another angle, when did software developers get so generous?

It hasn’t always been this way, and in certain segments prices have remained relatively stable. During the console wars of the 90s, it was normal to spend around ?40 for a brand-new game for the SNES, and we’re in the same ballpark today: Super Mario 3D World for the Wii U costs ?39 on Amazon.

Desktop software varies wildly, and far more software is now distributed for free – Apple, for example, lets Mac users upgrade to Mac OS X Mavericks for nothing – but there are still plenty of higher-priced exceptions. Adobe charges more than ?1,000 for the latest version of Creative Suite. And triple-A PC games cost ?30 or so when they first come out. It’s not as though we’re afraid to spend money on software. It’s just that when it’s called an ‘app’, the wallet shrinks with fear.

App stores weren’t always the bargain hunter’s paradises they are today. But as the number of apps has rocketed and supply outpaces demand, market forces cast their spell, and prices have dropped. Other than insane competition between hundreds of thousands of apps, developers are encouraged to pitch their prices low by the importance of the charts; How much does it cost to build an app? We asked some developers about current prices on the various app stores, and if they are enough to make back the costs of an app project.

Garry Partington, CEO of Apadmi, stressed that app development shouldn’t be viewed as a ‘get rich quick’ scheme. “With app productions costs averaging at ?30- to ?60k it takes a lot of downloads at ?1 to ?3.50 to recoup the costs,” he pointed out. “Hit apps recoup their costs and more, but there is an enormous number of apps that will never make a profit.”

Is the answer to cut corners in the development process? “Developers in Silicon Valley/San Franciscoare known to be notoriously expensive,” Partington added, “but the counter argument is that you get what you pay for with app development.”

The truth is that, despite the much-heralded lower barriers to entry that accompanied the rise of mobile, creating quality software is just as costly as ever. And lower development spending is likely to result in a drop in quality, as we will see later.

A risk-averse marketBargain-basement prices may not be good news for developers, but why should we care? I could have written a column about fairness – and I don’t see how anyone could seriously argue that 69p is a fair price for a fully realised game – and the effects on small development companies of the brutal price wars on the App Store and Google Play. These are legitimate concerns. But this affects all of us. It’s a question of the sort of apps market we’re creating.

Dino Patti, the CEO and co-founder of Playdead, believes that developers are pricing their wares about right, but argues that pricing trends in the mobile market make its games unlikely to ever match the experience you can get on PC and console.

“The lower pricing is causing most developers to do projects with a low financial risk,” Patti explains.“And the result of that is what we see now in the app stores. I hate to be a judge, but the fact is that I have never had an experience which are even close to the experiences I’ve had on a PC or console. These two things are almost not comparable.

“Is this sustainable? If you are making free-to-play and small games suitable for mobile devices it’s very sustainable. If you are trying to make a quality experience on a bigger budget you wouldn’t aim for this market in the first place.”

Bad gamesMaking good software is expensive, and hard, and above all risky, because you don’t know if anyoneis going to like what you’ve created. And when the returns are so thin, there’s little incentive to innovate.

The mobile games market is notoriously prone to cloning, with a tendency to unoriginality that runs the gamut from respectable homage to outright plagiarism, and this is at least partially attributable to the low margins in the app market. Developers such as Zynga and most recently King.com churn out carbon copies of existing games, because making groundbreaking software isn’t worth the effort.Unoriginality afficts PC and Mac software, too, but the scale of the problem on the App Store and Google Play is unprecedented.

And the mobile games that aren’t thinly veiled copies of previous successes are free-to-play abominations. Freemium is the logical endpoint of a market in which nobody is allowed to charge a realistic price up front. If you won’t spend money on app downloads, you force software makers to find other ways to get your money. And in the case of freemium, that means games that totally subvert the very idea of gaming in the name of profit.

Let’s take an example. The current (and deserved) punching bag for mobile gamers is EA’s desecration of the beloved 90s classic Dungeon Keeper. Dungeon Keeper on mobile is free, but absolutely everything is done to hamper and slow down your experience until you crack and pay for in-app purchases.

Instead of trying to make the game as fun as possible, so that you buy future releases by the designers, and tell your friends how good the game is so they buy it too, freemium designers aim to make your life as unpleasant as possible. It’s gaming as a chore. This is what we get if we don’t pay. We get crap, and we end up paying anyway.

PortingOne solution to the lack of adventure among developers is porting. Take Playdead’s Limbo, for example – an astonishing artful and visually ambitious game that couldn’t be further from the world of Candy Crush Saga. Limbo made its name on the PC, a market where prices are higher and innovation is more likely to be rewarded. Once it succeeded in that environment, Playdead made thetransition to mobile at a price of ?2.99.

That is also where Curve Digital pitched Stealth Inc, another superb PC game that appeared in iOS form. Rob Clarke, Curve’s PR and marketing manager, comments: “Stealth Inc started life as a PC game, moved to the PlayStation and came to iOS most recently as a premium game with a single piece of IAP. We’ve always priced the game differently in different markets, but as is ‘expected’, the iOS version works out about half the price of the PC version.

“We’re new to the App Store as a publisher, but I think we got the price right. We stuck with a premium model because we feel that freemium games only work if that’s your goal from the design stage, and we’re glad to see that there’s a healthy appetite for premium titles that have a fairly ‘hardcore’ appeal on the store.”

The upward curveWhat’s the future of app pricing? As Garry Partington puts it, “consumers have now been conditioned to expect the current price point for mobile apps and will, most likely, not be prepared to pay prices more commonly associated with desktop software”. Is this a market that can only go downward? Once the price drops, will anyone pay a ‘fair’ price again?

Well, maybe they will. Trent Oster, director of business development at Baldur’s Gate publisher Beamdog, believes brand recognition helped his games, but his story makes us feel optimistic.

“We’ve been lucky,” he says. “By bringing such well known games as the Baldur’s Gate series to the iPad we managed to get a great deal of attention despite our ‘premium’ price of ?6.99 for the first game and ?10.49 for the second. We’ve moved down in the standings since our launches, but the initial attention got us into the top 10 and was very positive for sales.

“Our subsequent sales were strong and now we’re settling down. Our daily numbers are wonderfullystable as fans, fold and new, continue to discover our work. When you look at it from the big picture, between the two apps, we’re off ering a massive package of more than 200 awesome hours of RPG entertainment, for less than you pay to go a few movies or a decent dinner out. I feel we represent a great and clear value to game fans.”

It baffles me that gamers would rather put up with intrusive adverts or a hobbled user experience rather than cough up a few quid. But as long as we continue to pick the free alternative, even when it’s horribly fl awed, app designers are going to be motivated to race to the bottom.

Namco is one of the great golden age arcade developers, largely known for Pac-Man, Dig Dug, and Galaxian. However, their secret best title is Mappy, a cute cat and mouse platformer with vague influences from some of their more popular titles.

The goal, as the titular policemouse, is to collect a series of items strewn about the level while avoiding a miniature army of thieving cats. The stage is divided into several floors, and the only methods of traversal are trampolines strewn about.

As with many classic games of the era, Mappy cannot directly attack his opponents, but there are a few tricks he can use against them – particularly, the many doors spread around. Only Mappy can open and close doors, so he can use them strategically to divert enemies or knock them off their feet, if they're close enough. Additionally, Mappy is invincible while bouncing on trampolines. Just on these terms, Mappy is a fun game, but there are numerous layers to the scoring strategy.

For example, all of the collectible items are placed in pairs. If you collect them both one after another, you get a stackable score multiplier. The items are worth different point values, so do a little math and you'll realize that there's a specific order to grab everything for maximum score. They're placed differently in each level, though, and the movement of the cats is erratic enough that your plans may be mucked up, forcing you to compromise for lower scores. Even your best laid-out plans are in flux.

There are also a few flashing doors. When opened, they send a beam across the floor, which sweeps off everything in its path. Like Pac-Man, it's in your best interest to get enough cats together (especially the leader cat, Goro, who acts with a different AI pattern than the rest of the cats) for the most points. Goro will also occasionally hide behind items for a few seconds – if you catch him while hidden you'll score extra points, but if you're too slow, he'll pop out and kill you, guaranteed.

There's a substantial amount of depth here – both in grabbing items and luring enemies – and that's not counting the near-perfect motions you need in order to complete the bonus stages. It's the best kind of arcade game – the better you understand the scoring strategies, the worse you may end up performing, because it's just so tempting to maximize your play, which at the same time places you in the most danger.

It's also ridiculously charming. This is one of the first arcade titles to have a soundtrack playing during the game, plus Mappy's "death" animation is so goofy that it's almost not-too-irritating when one of the cats actually catches you. -Kurt Kalata

See Also:The only other arcade Mappy game, Hopping Mappy, has little to do with the original and is best left forgotten. Mappy Land, the NES sequel, expands the concept into a longer form, but it doesn't really work. The final game, Mappy Kids, is a generic 8-bit platformer.

Instead, we’re highlighting Flicky, one of the other best, early arcade platformers. Flicky was the result of Sega’s management instructing Yoji Ishii to come up with a Mappy-killer, but the result stands very well on its own. The namesake bird has to gather all her chicks and bring them to the exit. Saving them all in one big line increases the score, but also the risk of having cats scare them away again. The jumping is floaty, and the narrow, scrolling stages wrap around, making for a uniquely crowded feel. -SD

One of the earliest known sidescrolling shooters, Scramble is credited in Gradius Generations for the GBA as the progenitor of the Gradius series. Based on appearances, they don’t seem to be directly related, but there are parallels. For example, your ship is armed with two weapons – a standard gun, and missiles which fly towards the ground. It was distributed in the US by Stern Electronics.

The game is only six stages long, alternating between fields and caverns, before entering the enemy base. Enemies are sparse there, but the extremely narrow passages require exact precision to maneuver through. Once completed, you simply need to bomb the final target to win the game and begin the next loop.

Merely surviving is not enough though. Your ship is constantly running out of fuel that needs to be replenished. Fortunately, the landscape is littered with little FUEL containers, which will mystically replenish a bit of gas when destroyed. Most of the time, these need to be destroyed by your missiles, which drop downward at an arc. The key is, dropped rockets travel along with your ship, sort of like the papers in Paperboy. This might make targeting extremely difficult at first, but a skilled player can use this to manipulate the shots in their favor.

It's probably unfair to criticize the graphics of a game from 1981, but Scramble is really ugly. This is mostly because the palette cycles through a series of eye-gouging colors every few seconds, which is both trippy and distracting.

The only real ports of Scramble at the time of release in North America were for the Vectrex and Commodore 64. The Vectrex one looks pretty awesome if you're into vector graphics. It was called Scramble Wars in Japan. There appear to be several versions of Scramble for the Commodore 64, but many are either ripoffs or homebrewed. Ports were also developed for the PC-6001, PC- 8001, and Pyuuta (Tomy Tutor) computers. In 2012, Bob DeCrescenzo released an excellent hombrew port for the Atari 7800.

Years down the line, Scramble also showed up on several Konami arcade compilations. The PlayStation and DS versions are straight emulations, the latter of which obviously has a bit of trouble due to the resolution changes. The Game Boy Advance version zooms in the display and shrinks the status bar to fit on the right side of the screen. If you enter the Konami Code, you'll activate an updated version that includes three ships to pilot, updated graphics, and actual music. The new visuals are equally as gaudy as the original. The Xbox 360 version offers updated graphics as well, which look substantially better. Super Cobra is the sequel to Scramble, although it really just expands on some of the original’s concepts. Primarily, you pilot ahelicopter instead of a rocket ship, although it handles the same way. It's a much harder game overall, but at least you can continue where you left off. Most of the graphics are the same, but there are a few new enemies, and the game is longer, with 11 stages in total compared to six. Also, at the end, you need to grab a briefcase instead of bombing a building.

Evidently, most companies at the time felt that Super Cobra was the definitive version of Scramble, so that's what they based their console and arcade ports on. These include versions for the Atari 2600, Atari 5200 (and 8-bit computers), MSX, Commodore 64, ColecoVision, Intellivision, Odyssey?, and the EntexAdventure Vision tabletop system.

Most of these were published by Parker Brothers and are missing some of the stages. Konami Arcade Classics for the PSOne is the only modern compilation to feature the game.

When it was released in 1986, Bubble Bobble was hardly at the edge of technology. Platform gameswith single-screen levels had been introduced with Donkey Kong five years earlier, and were already on their way out. Yet Bubble Bobble was so brilliant, it powered a small renaissance for the genre, and was followed by many clones and sequels. It’s a prime example of how you can turn a simple and straightforward concept into a mega hit and instant classic with cute, recognizable characters (some taken over from Taito's earlier game Chack'n Pop), and countless small, but clever modifications on a limited rule set.

As two adorable little dragons called Bub and Bob, the players – and it should always be two players, as not only they can support each other, but are required to get the better endings – need to clear 100 stages by breathing bubbles to catch monsters, and then touching them before they burst in order to turn them into different foods.

The trick is that the bubbles are not only their weapons, but also serve as makeshift platforms from which the dragons can bounce off of. Every stage has its own set of invisible air currents that take them all over the place. Usually they go in a general upwards direction, but there are also environments that press them down, or drive them towards a specific target. It's even possible to use bubbles to jump so high that the dragons appear back at the bottom of the screen, a tactic that’s sometimes necessary to get below areas blocked by platforms. Also, in certain stages, special bubbles hover in from the screen edges, which contain lightning, fire, and water. Popping these unleashes the elemental forces, each of which can take out monsters directly in a different way.

There are only a handful of different enemies, and the core gameplay remains the same across all 100 stages, but the sheer amount of variation almost makes every other round feel like a new experience. Added to this is an insane amount of extras, many of which seem random, but are actually based on specific parameters, like how many times Bub jumped or how many bubbles Bob has popped.

The game is so full of secrets, even entering certain names on the high score table does surprising things. At certain points you can find cryptic hints to an alternate mode called "Super Bubble Bobble", which shuffles around enemies and is the only way to obtain the true ending, which not only lifts the curse that turned Bub and Bob into dragons, but also frees their girlfriends and brings back their parents. -Sam Derboo

See Also:Bubble Bobble was followed by many sequels and spin-offs, but none managed to catch lightning in the same way. Rainbow Islands and Parasol Stars completely changed the formula and, while good, weren’t quite as addictive, and don’t hone the cooperative aspect. Bubble Symphony and Bubble Memories returned to the original template, but felt a bit stale for it, with noisy backgrounds and many chaotic elements.

The indie game Ibb and Obb is a straight puzzle platformer with scrolling levels, but much of the physics-based teamwork has the same spirit as Bubble Bobble. Its main gimmick, a screen divide into an up and down world with a gravity switch in the middle, is even reminiscent of the Bubble Bobble precursor, Chack’n Pop. -SD